Dear Mike and Imar

After a couple of year's break I am starting another go at doing my web site.

Imar, you may remember helping me quite a bit when I was using your Beginning ASP.NET 4 in C# and VB. Despite your help I basically failed in the end and, what with selling house and moving, the whole project ended up being put on the back burner.

I recently learnt of the existence of WebMatrix through a browse at my local tech. bookstore where I have just ordered your book from - alerted to it by Mike's postings on the WebMatrix forum. The blurb on the book I purchased suggested to me that WebMatrix might be a way forward for me.

The bottom line of my question is this, in four points -

1. Is WebMatrix a development of Visual Web Developer Express or a whole new ball game so to say?

2. Could a web site be partially developed in WebMatrix and then edited in Visual Web Developer Express (VWDE) or vice versa?

3. I created a database when I had a go at creating my website using VWDE; how compatible, if at all, is that with the database used within WebMatrix?

4. All of the code I previously created was in VB, I now seem to be picking up through these threads, and the one book I do have, that WebMatrix is more tied in to C#. May one use VB with WebMatrix or do I need to use C#?

Best regards and all good wishes for a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Philip

Hi there,

1) It's a brand new tool that creates .vbhtml and cshtml files rather than regular web forms ASPX pages. So from a tooling perspective, it's a new environment. However, it's all "one ASP.NET" so you'll find a lot of familiar stuff.

2) Yes. In Web Matrix you have a big button that says "Open in VS". However, the code you'll write is more ASP.NET MVC-like and not Web Forms-like if that's what you've been working with so far. My Beginning ASP.NET books deal with Web Forms, not MVC or Web pages / Web Matrix.

3) The answer is probably: 100% compatible. If, for example, you're using SQL Server you can use the exact same database in all types of ASP.NET apps.

4) Yes, you can use VB as well. Just pick VB as the starting template when creating new sites and files.

Cheers,

Imar

__________________
Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
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Author of Beginning ASP.NET 4.5 : in C# and VB, Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix
and Beginning ASP.NET 4 : in C# and VB.
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Just to build on Imar's reply, here is a link to a tutorial that covers working with Razor syntax (Web Pages code) in VB: http://www.asp.net/web-pages/overvie...or-syntax-(vb)